SUNDRIES. 321 



confined, and for what purpose the badge had been appended to it, are 

 questions of which there is no obvious solution. 



The Loon, or Great Northern Diver, (Colymbus glacialis, LINN.) 

 is sometimes found in this neighbourhood. A fine specimen, of which 

 by the kindness of a friend, I am now in possession of, was shot last 

 winter on Lough Neagh, near the town of Antrim, about sixteen English 

 miles from the sea. About the same time three more of these birds 

 were shot near the mouth of the bay of Carrickfergus ; all of them 

 having probably been driven to these parts by the excessive storminess 

 of the weather. My specimen measures, as near as possible, from 

 the extremity of the beak to that of the tail, three feet one inch and 

 a half. 



TO A SWALLOW. 



STAY thee, thou bird of nimblest wing, 

 Herald and harbinger of spring, 

 As round and round in airy ring, 



Thou wheel'st thy flight ; 

 Or dart'st right on, as if to meet 

 My pensive steps, when lo ! more fleet 

 Than bowyer's shaft, thy turnings cheat 



The following sight. 



Stay, swallow, stay ! I fain would view 



Thy glossy plumes of changeful hue, 



Where black, and brown, and green, and blue, 



Conflicting vie ; 



Fain would I view thy belted chest. 

 Thy sable robe, thy snowy vest, 

 Thy front and chin in 'kerchief drest, 



Of reddish die ; 



The steerage of thy forked tail, 

 Thy dusky legs so short and frail, 

 Each pointed wing's expansive sail, 



I fain would mark. 

 Thou wilt not : well then, onward go ! 

 Well deem'st thou, thou hast tasks enow, 

 To hold thee through the summer's glow, 



'Till winter dark. 



Go ! and or ere the eye of day 

 Strike the low thatch with level ray, 

 Trill from thy home to morning grey 

 A welcome sweet : 



